Bishops and Hospitals

From an opinion piece, "Catholic Hospitals vs. the Bishops", by Anne Hendershott in the December 31st edition of the Wall Street Journal:

In a July 6 letter to Bishop Olmsted, Mr. Dean asserted that "this is a complex matter on which the best minds disagree." Citing the opinion of Marquette University Professor M. Therese Lysaught on the permissibility of the abortion performed at St. Joseph's, Mr. Dean appeared to suggest that the teaching authority of the Phoenix Bishop was just one more "opinion" on a "complex matter."

This case points to the real problem in the church. For too long, the authority of bishops has been limited to issuing mere opinions. This is especially true at Catholic colleges and universities, where bishops have little affect on the culture and curriculum.

In the recent health-care debate, it was these same Catholic theologians who joined Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Catholic Health Association, to defy the bishops over the legislation in Congress. Cardinal Francis George, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, criticized Sister Keehan and her organization for supporting a bill that did not contain provisions to protect life. President Obama was so grateful for Sister Keehan's help in shepherding the bill through Congress that he awarded her one of the 20 pens used in the law's signing ceremony at the White House.

Many theologians, like Prof. Nicholas Healy of St. John's University in New York, write that theologians comprise "an alternative magisterium" to the teaching authority of the bishops. And in cases like the one at St. Joseph's, the alternative magisterium often trumps the true Magisterium of the church. Catholic colleges and hospital administrators now "shop" for theologians who will support their decisions.

In many cases, it's even worse. A Catholic professor who works at a Protestant college told me recently that the other Catholic professor on campus publicly refers to herself as "Magisterium"—she doesn't even bother to describe herself as "alternative". Credit her with a certain sense of logic: if the Magisterium really doesn't possess authentic and binding authority (as such dissenters insist is the case), then each and every Catholic is their own "magisterium". Likewise, when bishops fail to address the pseudo-magisterial pronouncements and actions of groups using the descriptive "Catholic", they feed this warped logic and the arrogance that feeds it.

Articles by Hendershott for Catholic World Report:

• Learning from Alinsky (October 2010)
• A Tale of Two Searches (August/September 2010)
• Mixed Signals (December 2009)
• They're Back! (November 2009)
• The Big Con (September 2009)

Comments

[Chris Burgwald]

If the Nick Healy Hendershott is referring to is the same one I'm thinking of (a von Balthasar scholar), I'd be shocked if he thinks that theologians actually compromise an alternative Magisterium... everything I've ever read by him indicates that it's more likely he's noted that many theologians *think* they compromise an alternative Magisterium, but they are incorrect.

Anyone know one way or the other?